Christian groups turn against Christian Legal Centre

The Christian Legal Centre has come under attack from other Christian groups in the UK.

According to Christian think-tank Ekklesia, the CLC have lost all credibility.

Following a High Court case about foster parents, they have made statements which are difficult to interpret as anything other than blatantly misleading.

While they have been accused of making highly questionable claims in the past, the CLC now seem to have gone a step further in the inaccuracy of their statements.

A CLC press release after this week's court ruling opened with the following sentence:

"In a landmark judgment, which will have a serious impact on the future of fostering and adoption in the UK, the High Court has suggested that Christians with traditional views on sexual ethics are unsuitable as foster carers".

But this is what the High Court judges really said about the sutiability of Christians to foster children:

"No one is asserting that Christians (or, for that matter, Jews or Muslims) are not 'fit and proper' persons to foster or adopt. No one is contending for a blanket ban. No one is seeking to de-legitimise Christianity or any other faith or belief. ... No one is seeking to give Christians, Jews or Muslims or, indeed, peoples of any faith, a second class status."

The judges said that it was appropriate for a local authority to take potential foster parents' views on sexuality into account, but emphasised:

"This is not a prying intervention into mere belief... The local authority is entitled to explore the extent to which prospective foster carers’ beliefs may affect their behaviour, their treatment of a child being fostered by them." .

The case came about because of a conflict between Derby City Council and a couple called Owen and Eunice Johns who are keen to foster children. The Johnses said that if they were fostering a child who was being considered for adoption by a same-sex couple, they would not want to allow that couple into their house.

It was unclear whether this should affect their chances of becoming foster parents, so the couple and the council agreed to seek guidance from the court. The judges declined to rule on such a hypothetical question. Thus, the High Court has not even barred the Johnses from fostering children, let alone socially conservative Christians in general.

The CLC is closely linked with Christian Concern (formerly known as Christian Concern For Our Nation). They both claim that Christians as a group are facing legal discrimination in the UK. A vast percentage of the cases they take on are concerned with same-sex relationships.

Ekklesia makes no secret of the fact that it disagrees with the CLC and Christian Concern about a range of issues, including sexual ethics and the nature of Christianity.

However, the more conservative Evangelical Alliance has also come out against the CLC.

It is highly questionable whether British courts of law should be used as forums for debating the pros and cons of conflicting human rights created by equalities legislation. Instead, they should only be used to resolve disputed points of law based on evidence.

The Evangelical Alliance expresses doubt about the wisdom in bringing such cases to the High Court in the first place. While there is no doubt that equality laws appear increasingly controversial in the way they seem to disproportionately impact against Christians, there is a clear need for a more cautious and strategic approach when deciding to take matters to court.

Dr Don Horrocks, Head of Public Affairs at the Alliance, said: "We all need to be more clued-up in deciding if and when to fight legal battles. Of course there are occasions when defending religious liberty in the courts is entirely appropriate and if there is evidence of fundamental unfairness in the interpretation of equalities legislation then this needs to be addressed by government.

"However, it is counterproductive to provoke the courts into unnecessary and unhelpful rulings — especially when a case is weak and evidence is lacking. There may also be risks that Christians will be viewed as deliberately engineering conflicts with the courts or pleading privileged treatment."

Dr Horrocks advises Christian groups to seek constructive ways to safeguard public services as well as civil liberties by working with public authorities — unless there is no other option but to seek legal redress.

He adds: "The good news is that Christians are and continue to be actively involved in public life and contribute to the common good. Following this particular case we hope that those in authority will continue to consider the welfare of the child first in allowing vulnerable children to be raised in supportive homes."